


Alone

by AnnaMila



Category: Powerpuff Girls
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:28:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27259444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaMila/pseuds/AnnaMila
Summary: Butch is different from his brothers. He feels alone sometimes, but you're never alone if you're a Green.High School AUOne Shot
Relationships: Butch & Buttercup Utonium, Butch/Buttercup Utonium
Kudos: 42





	Alone

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So I'm totally new to all of this (gotta start somewhere!), and the only way to get better is through feedback so seriously I'd love to hear your comments!   
> It's just a quick one-shot of the Greens (because I think deep down they're secretly a couple of softies)  
> This takes place in a High School AU and the Rowdy Ruff Boys became heroes and joined the Power Puff Girls two years before this takes place.   
> It was inspired by the song "So Am I " by Ava Max
> 
> I own nothing related to the Powerpuff Girls, or the song that inspired me.

Oh, this felt  _ good.  _ Butch was deaf to everything except the blood rushing in his head. His vision blurred everything around him. A rush of Euphoria filled him with every swing. 

Sure, tomorrow was probably going to suck, with aching muscles and that one nasty hit to his head was definitely going to leave a mark, but his grin was wild and unfazed as he took another swing. 

This monster attack was pretty standard: a large bear-like creature was spotted on the outskirts of the forest and his brothers and the puffs were called in to “handle it.” Butch always translated that to “beat the living shit out of it.” And that was fine by him. 

The six-story grizzly roared as Bubbles let out a screech that would have shattered glass. Boomer darted back and forth around the monster’s head, always just out of reach, but close enough to keep it occupied - and mad. In perfect tandem, the Reds uprooted a large Redwood up and flipped it horizontally. They flew it down to the bear’s feet without it noticing, as its focus was above him on Boomer’s taunting. With one misplaced step and a loud crash, the bear face planted forward. Brick nodded in Butch’s direction as Blossom signaled the same to Buttercup. 

_ Finally.  _ Butch thought to himself,  _ It’s closing time.  _

Two streaks of green descended on the bear lying flat on its stomach. The bear was annoyed but mostly unhurt. 

_ Not for long _ . 

The bear moved to get up again. The X surged through Butch like adrenaline, and instinct took over. He threw punch after punch after punch, only vaguely aware that Buttercup was doing the same thing on the bear’s left side. The roar of the monster was fuel to his blitz, he punched harder. Faster. 

Again and again and again and - 

“BUTCH - ENOUGH” 

Only the boss’ “angry voice” was enough to pull him out of the fighting frenzy that consumed him. And looking up from his raw and bloody fists he noticed that the bear lay still. 

_ Huh. When did that happen?  _

He pulled back from the fight, and a sudden sense of exhaustion washed over him. He withdrew from the monster and without much grace plopped down on the ground again with his back up against the fallen log Blossom and Brick had used to down the beast. The world around him was spinning and he couldn’t really hear. He put his head in between his knees to wait out the X rage. 

It would pass eventually, it always did. But something about fighting pushed Butch to his physical limits - it took everything out of him. It was awesome.

That’s why he didn’t notice Brick fly over to him, Boomer closely in tow behind him.

“Dude. When will you get it through that thick skull of yours that you need to stop THE FIRST TIME I TELL YOU” Butch almost missed the first half of that sentence due to his temporary hearing loss, but he heard Brick’s yelling loud and clear. Brick lifted his arms up in exasperation as he continued his rant “I yelled ‘enough’ three times before the message finally got through to you. Come on man, we’ve been working on communication in the field - it’s not gonna help any of us if your head is so far up your ass that you can’t hear my commands.” 

Boomer nodded behind Brick, always backing him up. Butch just rolled his eyes. 

“Well sorry! You called me and Butters in to close and that’s exactly what we did. I don’t see the issue.” Butch really didn’t feel like fighting right now, his head was pounding. But with the X-rush still coursing through him, he couldn’t control his tone or aggression. 

Brick, now pacing in front of him, went into it again. Brick’s voice had lowered in volume and now was calm and cool. 

_ Seriously - How did Brick just turn it on and off like that? Not two minutes ago he was breathing fire and fighting for his life, now he’s droning on like my history teacher. So boring. Wait. Shit. Maybe I should be paying attention. _

Orders should be followed in a timely manner and he doesn’t have time to repeat himself, and chain of command, and blah blah blah. Butch decided he’d heard it before and made faces at Boomer every time Brick turned his back on him, which got a couple good stifled laughs in return. It’s not that Butch didn’t care about what his brother was saying (despite it being a rather  _ lengthy  _ lecture) - he did. He knows how important it is, and he would follow Brick’s lead anywhere. One command was all it would take for Butch to do something for Brick, that’s how much he implicitly trusted his big bro. One command and he flew straight into a siren’s mouth to pull out its tongue. One command and he gave up the right to be just a kid, and followed Brick into heroship. One command was enough. That is, when he could hear it. 

Hearing, now fully restored thanks to a Big Brother Lecture, Butch heard the exasperated sigh coming from Brick’s his counterpart on the other side of the field. All three boys turned to see Blossom shaking her head while Buttercup laughed hysterically, nearly bringing tears to her eyes. Bubbles almost let slip a giggle but kept it in, for the sake of her “commander and leader.” 

_ I wonder what’s going on over there... _

Butch snapped back to attention and immediately wiped the smile off his face as the girls rose and flew over to join them. Blossom spoke directly to Brick. 

“Let’s go home. If we hurry we might be able to wrap this post-moster meeting up with enough time to get some last minute studying in before tomorrow’s Chem test.” She fiddled with her ring. 

Brick’s smirk slowly formed as he saw the gesture. “Ohhh… is someone nervous for Ms. Noren’s big bad midterm tomorrow? 'Fraid I'm gonna beat you again?” 

“I am not! And it was 2 points Brick!" Blossom huffed. "It’s just always good practice to review material before the exam…” 

Brick just raised his eyebrows "Race ya home?" 

Blossom's eyes widened at the challenge.

In a flash of red and pink, the two flew back home, bantering all the way. It was always a competition with those two. Next, Bubbles jumped on Boomer’s back and they giggled as they took off in the direction of the Reds. Butch just rolled his eyes as he got up and dusted himself off. The high from beating up bad guys had officially worn off, and all that was left was guilt from Brick’s lecture and pain coursing through his body. He hid it behind a scowl though, not wanting Buttercup to think anything was wrong. He could feel her eyes on him but refused to meet her gaze. Instead he just flew to the Utonium’s layer. At least he and Blossom were agreed - 

_ Let's get this over with quick.  _

_____

Butch’s hand slipped out from under his chin as the bell rang and he nearly face-planted into the desk. He wiped the sleep from his eyes as he packed up his backpack. 

_ Finally.  _

He headed to his favorite period of the day - lunch. People instinctively moved out of his way in the hallways and some even looked down to avoid his glare. He glowered because of it. He didn’t try to scare them, he was after all supposed to be a hero now. It wasn’t like he was going to hurt them. Ugh. 

Gazing out across the cafeteria he saw his brothers sitting with the puffs. Boomer and Bubbles were staring into each other's eyes as Blossom pulled a large stack of flashcards out of her backpack and placed them in front of Brick.. Buttercup was there too, but he just kind of wanted to be alone today. Whatever. He’d see them all after school today anyway in training. 

He high tailed it out of there before anyone at his table could see him and wandered outside. He glanced around to make sure no one was watching him before he jumped up and flew to the roof of the school. They weren’t  _ technically  _ supposed to leave school grounds at lunchtime, but the roof was the school. Right? Besides, nobody had caught him yet. And Butch always followed the mantra of asking for forgiveness instead of permission. 

_ Yeah, like that’s never backfired on me before.  _

At least it was quiet up here. He sighed and pulled out his pizza slices and soda can he had packed for lunch. It wasn’t as good cold, but hey, pizza was pizza. 

“Hey dipshit. Why’d you abandon me down there?” A familiar raspy voice called up from ground below “The little Einsteins and the lovebirds are driving me up the wall” 

He looked up from the bite of pizza he was about to take to see Buttercup floating in front of him. He smiled without thinking and then remembered he wanted to be alone. 

“Hey. How’d you find me?”

“When I saw you book it out of the cafeteria I decided to follow you.” 

_ Shit. I thought nobody saw that. Ah hell she’s good.  _

Butch zoned back into what she was saying “ -because I cannot listen to Bubbles and Boomer discuss matching dress and tie colors for Homecoming anymore. Jesus, everyone knows they’re gonna pick blue whyyy does it have to take hours of discussion” 

Buttercup huffed and Butch chuckled at that. She looked back at him when she heard him and a soft smile crept up on her face. She moved to sit next to him. It was a pretty nice view of Townsville up here, he could see all the way to the park. But right now he wasn’t looking at the view. 

He coughed and answered her with “At least they’re pretty focused on each other. If you sit with the Reds for too long they’re eventually going to make you quiz them.” 

“That’s why I’m mad you abandoned me!” She shoved him playfully with a grunt “What gives man?” She stared directly at him and he averted her gaze. 

He closed his eyes. 

A breath. 

“I don’t know” It was soft, almost like a whisper when he replied. If it was anyone other than Buttercup, they wouldn’t have guessed that the Baron of Berserk could have such a gentleness to him. “I just couldn’t handle the noise” 

_ This is annoying. Why is she asking me what’s up. Why am I answering her?! Nope. Shutting up now! She’ll get bored and move onto a new topic. Yeah. I’ll out-silence her.  _

She nodded but didn’t say anything back. She let the silence sit between them, knowing he’d go on if given the chance. 

“Sometimes I… well… do you ever feel like you’re different sometimes?” 

_ Ok the silence was killing me. What was I supposed to do?  _

The question took her by surprise but nonetheless she answered with a shrug “I mean yeah. I was born in a lab, I heal 60% faster than the average human, I can fly, and I absolutely love beating monsters to a pulp. Not exactly the typical high school experience.” 

“Yeah. yeah. That’s true, the normies definitely aren’t like us… but” he trailed off, unable to finish that thought. 

Buttercup cocked her head to the side “You mean if I ever feel different from the others? From my sisters and your brothers?” 

He picked up his head and looked straight at her. The woman was like a mind reader holy  _ shit _ . 

“Yeah. Exactly. I don’t know. Maybe. Just -” He breathed in and let out a long exhale “I love them, I’d do anything for them. And I know they love me too. They’re my bros.” 

_ Obviously dipshit. She knows that. Jeez man you’re rambling on. Stop it.  _

But he couldn’t stop it. “But sometimes. Sometimes it’s like they don’t get it. They have such control over their powers. And it’s so easy for them to be heroes and. I don’t know. Sometimes I think the fact that I was built to be a villain, maybe that evil DNA or somethin is just a little stronger in me...” He was beginning to mumble but cleared his throat and shook his head. “Because when I start a fight. I _can’t_ _stop._ I completely lose my surroundings, my senses. I can’t see straight. All I can feel is the instinct to land another blow on whatever it is that I’m pummeling…” This definitely wasn’t a mumble, and came out a little louder than he intended. 

_ Man, no need to yell at her. It’s your problem, stop whining to her.  _

He put his head in his hands and she just watched him. She looked casual enough, but she never took her eyes off of him, and hung to every word he was saying. 

“I’m scared” He said into his hands 

_ So much for “stop whining” _

“Scared that one day, I’ll snap. I won’t be able to stop. And I’ll be a bad guy again… everyone else already thinks it's possible anyway. The normies are definitely scared of me. The media hates me. Maybe the one thing I can’t fight is who I am” 

She punched his arm. Hard. It got him to pick up his head and look at her. She always liked that expression on him, somewhere between angry, exasperated, and maybe a little amused… She smiled wide. 

“You think this is funny Butters?” He got up to leave but she pulled him down again. 

She stared straight into his eyes, and this time he didn’t look away. 

“You feel different from them because you are.” 

_ Oh great. Even she thinks I’m a hopeless case.  _

“Stop looking like a sad little puppy kicked on the side of the road, Butch.” He bristled at that. “You’re different from them. But so am I.” 

There was that look again, confused, a touch of angry, and maybe even hope? 

Buttercup rolled her eyes and continued, “It’s not your ‘villain DNA’, that’s not even a thing, dumbass. It’s cuz you’re a Green.”

More confusion from Butch, oh god this was going to have to be spelled out to him.

“Take it from the Toughest Fighter, it feels so  _ good _ to beat the shit out of monsters. The X-enhanced adrenaline pumping through your veins, the pure bodily instinct that takes over, fight or flight but flight is  _ never _ an option. And when it’s over - it’s, it's like coming down from a high, God! My vision is blurry and I almost can’t hear Blossom yelling at me for an hour or two after the fight, not a bad side effect if I do say so myself.” She smiled in his direction. “That instinct, it feels dark and twisted, but it’s what keeps me alive on the battlefield. Hell! It’s what makes me  _ feel _ most alive too!” 

He turned completely towards her, moving his legs from dangling off of the side of the roof and sitting criss cross as he leaned towards her. She mimicked the action. 

“So you feel it too? That feeling when everything else shuts down except for the need to fight?” 

She laughed and simply stated “Sure do.” 

He smiled and lost himself in his own thoughts. Her voice pulled his focus back to her. 

“For years I thought there was something wrong with me.” Her voice was much softer now, the edge of exasperation in her tone that she usually has when talking with Butch was gone. “Blossom was the epitome of control. She could harness her powers to do exactly what she fucking wanted. And Bubbles, there was no doubt that she was a hero. She wore her emotions on her sleeve and the public just fell in love with her. But me? I was aggressive. I was  _ mean _ . I was hardened and ‘too tough’ for little girls to look up too.” 

Butch scoweled and crossed his arms “Well that’s some BS if I ever heard. Little girls  _ should  _ be tough. You’re a perfect role model for that! You don’t take shit from anyone. I dunno, I’d want kids to be like that.” 

He glanced away luckily, otherwise he would have seen a faint blush crept up on her cheeks. But if anyone ever asked about it, she’d deny it and give them a gnarly bruise on their shoulder. Buttercup doesn’t blush. 

Butch looked back at her, even as she looked out onto the city skyline. 

“Yeah well… I can’t tell you the amount of times Blossom has had to tell me to calm down, or how Bubbles has had to tell me to smile when we’re on camera. And they’ve both had to pull me off of a beaten-to-death monster because I  _ couldn’t stop punching _ .” Her eyes met his. If he didn’t know better he’d say she almost looked desperate. Almost. “That’s why I was so excited when you joined us. I wasn’t such a freak anymore. Or if I was, at least I wasn’t alone…” 

“Thank you for calling me a freak! Way to kick a man when he’s down!” He mocked being angry but he ended up laughing too much to pull it off. “Ah, Butterbabe, and here I was thinking that all the kicking and punching and name calling was because you didn’t like me. Turns out I’m your favorite!” He wiggled his eyebrows. 

She pushed him off of the roof. 

“I still don’t like you.” She shouted as he floated back up to their spot on the roof 

“No take backs! You already admitted it!”

“I did  _ not _ ! You’re still an annoying piece of shit. I just - ” she hesitated, grasping for the right words “I just don’t think you’re all that different from me.” 

He smiled as he tackled her. He had the upper hand because she didn’t see it coming. 

_ Ha! Sucker. OW!  _

She landed a right hook smack on his face. Oof that was going to leave a mark. They rolled around on the roof, dodging hits from each other and fighting the way only they love to do. They wrestled and laughed for the rest of lunch and when the bell rang Butch gathered up his things. He and Buttercup flew down and headed off in separate directions to their next class. 

People still got out of his way in the halls. And when he sat down next to Boomer in History, he still got grilled about why he has a brand new shiner around his eye, and he really shouldn’t be fighting with Butters on school grounds. And after school at training he still had to go through the pointless Communication in the Field exercises. 

But at least he wasn’t the only one. 


End file.
